


No More the Queen's Magician

by Daegaer



Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: 16th Century CE, Alchemy, Angels, Assassins, Demons, Elizabeth Bathory - Freeform, Holy Roman Empire, M/M, Master/Servant, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Psychics, Rudolf II, Stephen Bathory, Thomas Kelley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-20
Updated: 2011-04-20
Packaged: 2017-10-18 10:22:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some years after returning to England, Dr John Dee receives two disturbing visitors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No More the Queen's Magician

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crescentium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crescentium/gifts).



> Written for Weiss Day 2011.
> 
> Thank you to Puddingcat for beta-reading!

_Mortlake, 1595_

John Dee felt the wind more keenly now that he had returned to England, its thin cold fingers seeking his flesh through even the heaviest of coats. It was ridiculous, he thought, for how could spring in Mortlake be colder than winter in Krakow? He shivered at the memory, staring at the lake but seeing again the snow that had lain deeper than in any winter in England. He had never been properly warm since, he thought, not since the Polish king had remembered he was a Christian and should have nothing to do with magicians. Dee snorted in irritation, seeing again Stephen's pious face as he insisted that Dee be present each day for the Mass, though Stephen himself held to the values of religious reform. _No one shall hold your beliefs against you, Master Dee. Am I not a friend of Protestants and Catholics alike in this country? Kneel by me therefore from Christian charity_. As if any man of that family should call himself a Christian, when all men of learning knew of his niece and her devilish pacts. Women could not help but be weak, and to teach them mysteries was folly. Dee's lips curled in scorn. He had never needed recourse to such actions as were rumoured of Stephen Bathory's niece.

_Perhaps she too thinks she speaks with angels._

The thought was odd and unwelcome. Dee shoved it away at once; he had no more to do with that. As if summoned by it, however, Jane appeared, not quite meeting his eyes, as ever since that time in Bohemia. Perhaps, Dee thought, it was he who could not meet her eyes.

"Thomas says there are men come to consult you, Master Dee," she said. "From London, Thomas says."

It was good of her to come herself to tell him, he thought. Perhaps she had forgiven him at last. "Thank you, Mistress Dee," he said. He hurried back to the house with her. Perhaps these men were from the court, come to tell him that he was at last respectable again, that he would receive a position. _The first thing I shall do_ , he told himself, _is engage more servants to ease Jane's days._ He paused a moment to straighten his hat upon his head, then entered, hurrying towards the hall, where he could hear voices.

Sitting at the table was a young man dressed for riding in a green coat and breeches, a stained pair of embroidered yellow leather gloves lying beside his hand. The hair under his hat was red and of a length Dee had thought was no longer fashionable for wealthy young men. Behind him stood a somewhat older dark haired man, bare-headed and silent. Thomas had laid out a plate of meat, Dee saw, and poured wine for their guest. The young man picked at the goose lazily, clearly not hungry, but eating from boredom alone. It was, Dee thought, likely his and Jane's own dinner, but what matter, if the news were good? The whole household could happily eat bread tonight if that were so. As he stepped forward the young man held up a choice piece of meat and his servant plucked it from his fingers, eating before wiping his hand on a cloth he took from his jacket. It was one thing to watch a guest eat his dinner, but Dee frowned at feeding the man's servant, and frowned more at the familiar look the two men shared as he came towards them, their eyes amused and not a little contemptuous.

"Master, this gentleman -" Thomas started, but the young man broke across him, speaking a language Dee recognised as German, a language he had never wished to hear again.

"My master has come to consult you, Doctor Dee," the visitor's servant said. "He would have you ask a question for him."

"Thomas, you may go," Dee said, adding when he had closed the door behind him, "Your master's name?" Dee ignored the apprehension that rose within him. It would be, he thought, a question on the sciences, or perhaps on the stars.

"It is unimportant," the man said, as the young gentleman gave a wide and insinuating smile. " _My_ name is Crawford."

 _A Scot_ , Dee thought, suddenly placing the accent, though it was overlaid with the precise manner in which the Germans he had met spoke English. "If your master does not speak English, let us speak in Latin," he said, and, as the sly smile widened on the young German's face, show he understood enough even if he did not wish to speak English, Dee added, "Or Greek, if his Latin does not suffice."

"He prefers to speak through me," Crawford said, the politeness of his tone like a thin ice. "Are you not familiar with such a thing, Doctor Dee?"

Dee shivered, suddenly and unexpectedly thinking of Kelley's voice, speaking for voices no human could hear. _This is not Kelley_ , he told himself sternly. _Why did you speak so sharply, when this man may have influence at court?_

"What question have you come on?" he asked.

The young man leant forward, still smiling as he spoke quickly. Dee caught the name _Uriel_ and felt himself blanch.

"My master would ask the angels a question," Crawford said. "You have spoken with the archangel Uriel, have you not?"

"I - no longer have the acquaintance of the person who aided me in that way," Dee said, glad beyond all reckoning that Jane had withdrawn and had not heard them.

The young man made a lazy gesture, and Crawford bent to retrieve a purse from the bag that lay at his feet. He handed it to his master who opened it and placed it upon the table, speaking lightly as if it were an embarrassment for them all that money should need to be mentioned. Dee caught his name amidst the German and bowed slightly. The coins within the heavy purse were silver, he saw, and worth a courtesy.

"Ten pounds, Doctor Dee," Crawford said, "for asking the question. Another ten for its answer."

 _Twenty pounds_ , Dee thought. _A suit of clothes good enough for court, and new clothing for Jane and the children. Thomas' wages for months, to boot._ It was tempting - he blinked, suddenly thinking that he had heard the thought in another's voice, rather than thinking it himself.

"Herr Doktor Dee?" the young man said, following it up with a flurry of German at his man.

"Your answer, Doctor Dee?" Crawford said.

 _Yes_ , Dee thought. "Yes," he said slowly. "I will ask." He walked to the door, feeling half-asleep and called, "Thomas! Bring the small chest from my chamber!" He smiled a little apologetically at his guest, saying,"I shall need to assay this with my servant's assistance - the angels do not speak directly, you understand -"

Thomas came quickly, and Dee opened the chest, drawing out the things he had not looked at in some years. The Seal of God had crumbled a little around the edges, though the lines in the wax were still sharp and sure. He set it upon the table, putting the crystal sphere carefully on it.

"We must pray," he said. "Thomas, don't go -"

Thomas hesitated, then bowed his head obediently while Dee prayed they were all pure and Christian men, seeking only knowledge for the betterment of the world. "Amen," he said at last.

"Amen," Thomas echoed, though Dee knew well he had not understood his words as he knew no Latin and considered prayers in the language too close to the Church of Rome.

"Amen," Crawford and his master chorused.

"Thomas, sit down," Dee said, gesturing to the table. "Put your hands on either side of the Seal - the wax disc, man, put your hands on it."

"Sir?" Thomas said dubiously. "I don't -"

"I will tell you what to do," Dee said. "Please, sit."

Thomas looked in some worry at the Seal, then glanced at Dee's guest. All at once he sat, heavy and limp, on the bench at which Dee had gestured, his eyes vague as he lifted his hands and put his fingertips on either side of the Seal.

"Thomas?" Dee said in concern, placing a hand upon his shoulder and finding no response. "Are you well?"

"Your servant appears to be ready," Crawford said, the false politeness thinner than before. His master leant forward, his face intent as he spoke, his voice low and fast.

"Sir," Dee said, "my man does not speak any language but English - Crawford, what is it your master wishes to ask?"

"There are lines within the ball," Thomas said, his voice quiet and surprised. "They are roads on which a man might travel, to the very highest heaven. They are there, sir, they hear and understand your question."

Dee gaped at him. He had never thought Thomas had spiritual knowledge and yet he saw into the crystal even faster than Kelley ever had. His guest looked up at him, something like hunger in his face. _Kelley_ , Dee thought, and grimaced. He had never wanted the man brought to mind again and yet now could not rid himself of the image of his face, laughing in vulgar amusement. Dee forced his mind back to the present, watching Thomas stare in confused fascination into the crystal, yet Kelley's face rose again and again in his mind. Kelley, staring into the same crystal; Kelley, promising the emperor Rudolf he could transform base metal to gold; Kelley, murmuring angelic messages of import for Poland while King Stephen's expression turned to disbelief; Kelley in Bohemia looking up sharply - _The Archangel Uriel speaks now to us, Dee. We must share -_

Dee shook his head. He did not want to think of that ever again, did not want to remember Jane's face, how her eyes had been shadowed with grief when he raised his voice in anger, saying she had sworn to honour and _obey_.

 _Just so_ , his mind whispered in a voice not quite his own. _Is it not safer to think of your friend before he said such a thing? Where is he? Come now, think, remember - where is he?_

Watching Thomas, hearing his voice grow quieter and more peaceful, it no longer seemed strange to Dee to converse with his own memory as if with another man, and it was harder to push Kelley's face from his mind. _I don't know,_ he thought and then was falling, though he did not feel himself hit the ground.

 _Bohemia was cold, and Prague was as deep in snow as Krakow had been. Dee sat by the fire, cursing the day he had left England, angered by Kelley's insolent amusement at their situation._ He _had been the on who had carried a letter from Elizabeth to Stephen of Poland, Dee thought, not Kelley._ He _had carried her letter to the emperor Rudolf. And now Stephen had sent them away, giving them no position in his new university, and Rudolf paid more heed to Kelley than to him. Even the Bohemian count in whose house they dwelt spoke more politely to Kelley._

_"You would have no peace in Wilno, why do you chafe at being freed from Stephen's service?" Kelley said idly._

_"I could have taught the wise men of these lands," Dee snapped. It would not do to say he would never have the same chance in an older university, he thought. It was too humiliating to think how much he had longed for a place in Wilno, its buildings still raw with newness. "Rudolf has too many men clamouring for position, he will not grant me a place in any university of the empire."_

_"He has already spoken of his desire to see_ my _work succeed," Kelley said in deep satisfaction, and, at Dee's snort of annoyance, added, "If you are so eager to serve a Bathory, Dee, I hear Stephen's niece is most interested in secret knowledge. Women are generous when they think they will get their wish, why not go to her court? Perhaps the generous Count Vilem will give you a letter of introduction - shall I ask him? He has asked me to go hawking with him, I can ask tomorrow."_

_"I'd as soon serve the Devil," Dee said, shuddering. "Why do you seek private audience with Vilem Rozemberk and seek his aid in speaking once more with Rudolf, Kelley? Are we not partners? Do we not share in this great enterprise?"_

_Kelley's expression turned sour. "Share? My star rises, Dee, while yours -" His hand shot out suddenly, seizing the crystal sphere, and his eyes rolled up to reveal the whites. "Uriel comes," he gasped. "He says we must share indeed, share all that we have, we must share -_ "

Dee gasped, wrenching his mind away from the memory, and passed a shaking hand over his face. Thomas was no longer murmuring quietly, he realised, and all three of the others were watching him curiously as tears rolled down his face. _I must speak_ , he thought, but said nothing, for the only words he wished to say he could not, from simple shame. _Oh, Jane, I am sorry, so very sorry._

"You should see to your master," Crawford said, and stepped back as his own master rose from his seat.

Thomas gingerly pressed Dee down to sit upon the bench and withdrew as the gentleman stepped closer and put his hand on Dee's shoulder.

"You know, I think, something of guilt, Herr Doktor Dee," he said in heavily accented English, his tone deeply satisfied. "It is something we all learn in time. You will keep the money. Come, Crawford."

Dee did not watch them leave, but sat as quiet as he might, struggling not to disgrace himself further.

"I'm sorry I couldn't answer the gentleman's question, sir," Thomas said awkwardly, as if speaking to an unhappy child. "But see, he left the ten pounds he promised! That's good, isn't it, Master Dee? You can buy some of your books back, can't you?"

Dee did not answer, deep in the loss of the dreams of earlier days, and of hope, of pride and of his wife's esteem.

* * * 

"You have missed your calling as a mummer, Schuldig," Crawford said dryly. "Such a show you put on for that man."

"It brought what we sought to his mind - so much bitterness and friendship turned in upon itself. How he hates his associate's success!" Schuldig said, mounting his horse neatly. "Him and his angels!" He laughed like a scornful boy. "Though I do not think they were _angels_ with whom he spoke. Let's be off."

"Where is the alchemist?" Crawford said.

"North of Prague," Schuldig said. "He has convinced Rudolf and his nobles that he has the secret of making gold." He grinned, his smile wide and malicious. "Maybe he even does."

"Gold," Crawford scoffed, as they rode away. "What foolishness, to put oneself in a position to need it, like that old fool." He nodded back at the house.

Schuldig laughed. "He'll never buy back his wife's trust, I can say that without having your foreknowledge. Come, let's to Prague and its imprisoning castles - and perhaps on to Csejte after we have seen the truth or falsity of Kelley's powers!"

"Csejte?" Crawford said. "What's there of use? We are sent only to search out Kelley."

"His late majesty of Poland's niece," Schuldig said cheerfully. "I quite think she is one of us."

"If we must go to Bohemia and Hungary, it is my turn to be the foreign gentleman, and your turn to serve," Crawford said.

"We shall see," Schuldig laughed, and spurred his horse on, yelling, "the last one to the next milestone serves!"

Crawford wasted no time in applying spurs to his horse, and they were gone down the road and away, laughing with the freedom from care that young men think will last forever.

Behind them, the house at Mortlake subsided into quiet misery once more.

  



End file.
